Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We face significant challenges throughout the country as regards access to special education. The special education teacher, SET, allocation for schools for 2024-25 needs to be revisited. One school in Swords in my constituency will face a decrease of 12.5 hours, which means it will lose a number of programmes, including one-to-one teaching, it has in place for children with additional needs. We cannot go backwards in this area.

There is a hugely disjointed provision of autistic spectrum units, not only in my constituency but across the country. In Malahide, for example, there are no AS units at primary school level, yet there are two classes at second level. In a town the size of Swords, some schools have four AS units while others have none. This issue is coming up on every single canvass we are on. It is a challenge and crisis that is not getting the attention it deserves. We need a change of approach. What will the Government do in the coming months?

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